UK ministers hit back at Argentinian Falklands claim and insist islands remain British
British ministers have hit back after the Argentinian president said “winds of change” favourable to his country’s claim to the Falklands were “blowing around the world”, Kiran Stacey reports.
Related: UK ministers hit back at Argentinian Falklands claim and insist islands remain British
The Electoral Commission has issued a statement this morning saying it is in touch with the police about the undercover investigation into Reform UK. In a statement, it said:
We are considering all relevant information, in line with our regulatory remit, and we are in touch with the Met police.
The Electoral Commission has not approved the donor vetting process for Reform, or any other party. Parties are responsible for ensuring their internal processes and controls are fit for purpose.
We provide advice and guidance to political parties on how to comply with electoral law.
The law requires political parties to report all permissible donations they accept with a value over £11,180 and all impermissible donations over £500.
Information about any potential attempt to evade the controls on donations is for the police to consider.
Unlock Democracy , which campaigns for democratic reform, says the Reform UK undercover donations investigation shows the need for a cap on the amount people can donate to political parties.
Tom Brake, its chief executive (and a former Lib Dem MP), said:
Until a donations cap is in place, the temptation will always be there to circumvent the rules when pursuing large donors.
This latest allegation must be thoroughly investigated to confirm no laws have been broken.
Farage admits conversations filmed undercover 'don't look good', and says he's 'not happy'
Here are some more lines from Nigel Farage ’s interview with LBC this morning where he gave his response to the undercover report about an apparent Reform UK plot to evade election donations rules. (See 9.07am .)
Farage insisted Reform UK had not broken any laws – but he admitted aides had said things they “perhaps should not have been said” and conceded he was “not happy” about this. He said:
The party has broken no laws. The party has not taken any dodgy money or anything like that whatsoever.
However, it is a clear case of entrapment, and they worked at it for a very, very long time, and they got a couple of our contractors to say things that perhaps should not have been said.
And as a result of that, you know, they have been removed this morning. And yeah, you know, I’m not happy about it.
He rejected the claim that the footage of him discussing a £500,000 donation with fake father-and-son donors (see 9am ) showed that he was aware of a plan to circumvent electoral law. He said:
If you listen to what I said, I said, is this all above board? Is this all legal? I’ve been told it was a global family office based in London. And by the way, I was in the middle of a Clacton by-election. I turned up to see people. I knew nothing about them whatsoever. I meet people all the time.
He claimed the three polls featured in the investigation were not commissioned by Reform UK. He said:
Whilst the poll benefited Reform, it wasn’t commissioned by Reform.
It had nothing to do with Reform. It was an independent third party that did it. So that’s nothing. That’s nothing. Polls are funded by overseas people every single week. Every single week.
In fact, the report contains footage clearly suggesting the polls were carried out at at the behest of Reform UK.
He suggested Labour and the Tories had a worse record on donations because they in effect sold peerages. He said:
The Labour Party and the Conservative Party have been selling peerages for years in return for political donations. Political donations leading to big government contracts.
In the world of political funding, all sorts of things have been done over decades that are wrong.
He said the party had suspended two aides because their remarks “don’t look good”. He said:
I promise you, the polling is not even an issue. Nothing. The party has not done anything wrong, but entrapped conversations don’t look good, and that’s why we’ve taken the action we have.
Tice accuses 'far-left, eco-zealot radicals' behind Reform UK donations investigation of 'entrapment'
Richard Tice , the Reform UK deputy leader, was on the Today programme this morning. Like Nigel Farage (see 9.07am ), he also insisted that, despite what the undercover report shown on Channel 4 News revealed, Reform UK had not broken any laws. He said:
The reality is that no money has been received whatsoever. We’ve got a KC’s opinion that makes clear no rules have been broken.
He also insisted that “no benefit in kind was received” by Reform UK. (One of the allegations in the report was the £30,000 paid by the undercover team to fund three opinion polls helpful to Reform UK amounted to a benefit in kind which should not have been allowed from a foreign donor and which, if they had been legitimate, should have been declared.)
Tice also claimed Verbatim, the investigative reporting unit founded by the Centre for Climate Reporting that brought the report to Channel 4 News, may have broken the law itself.
You talk about the issue of the Elections Act.
Section 61 confirms that actually the offence of entrapment, which has taken place by Channel 4 and these far-left, eco-zealot radicals … I believe Channel 4 have broken the rules of entrapment. They’ve got questions to answer.
Tice seemed to be talking about section 61 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 which says it is an offence to “induce” someone to commit the various offences set out in the act.
But section 61 largely applies to offences relating to voting, not donations, and so it seems unlikely the Channel 4 News would face an investigation of the kind Tice is proposing.
Farage says Reform UK has 'broken no laws' and not taken any 'dodgy money' in response to undercover investigation
Nigel Farage has been speaking about the undercover donations investigaton. He says the party has “broken no laws” and has not “taken any dodgy money”.
Anderson says Farage won't quit over undercover report into donations, and 'country needs him'
In a separate interview, on Times Radio, Lee Anderson , the Reform UK chief whip and party chair, insisted there was no chance of Nigel Farage resigning over the undercover investigation into party donations.
I don’t think Nigel has got any questions on this. The two people involved, they have gone. They have left the building. I keep saying this time and time again. They have gone. That is the right thing to do. They are not coming back and Nigel is going nowhere …
Nigel is an honest man. I have known him for many years now. The party has done the right thing by launching this investigation. Nigel will be on the main stage later on explaining our first 100 days in government. He is not going anywhere. The country needs him.
While James Orr and Dan Jukes are the main focus of the investigation, the film shown by Channel 4 News suggests Farage himself also had some knowledge of the proposal for a US-based supporter to donate £500,000 to the party by channelling it through his UK-based son. Foreigners are not allowed to donate to UK political parties, and donating via proxies in this manner is also banned.
Farage is filmed attending an oyster bar lunch where he thought he was meeting the father and son. But the ‘son’ was an undercover reporter, and the ‘father’ an actor hired to play the part.
After discussion of how the money from the UK might be given to the party via the son, Farage is recorded telling them: “Thank you both.”
Two aides suspended over donations allegations have 'no chance of coming back', says Reform UK's chair Lee Anderson
Lee Anderson , the Reform UK chief whip and party chair, has said that James Orr and Dan Jukes – the two aides primarily involved in the apparent plot exposed by an undercover investigation to evade electoral law – were suspended and won’t be coming back.
In an interview on Sky News this morning, Anderson said:
[Orr and Jukes] were told they had to step down. They have stepped down. And that’s got to be the right thing to do.
The presenter, Kamali Melbourne, put it to Anderson that Orr, head of policy at the party, and Jukes, a key aide to Nigel Farage, were both very important figures in the party and asked if there was any chance they could “come back”. Anderson replied:
No, there’s no chance of them coming back. They’ve stepped aside.
We’re a serious party, you know, and sometimes in politics, you have to make tough decisions, harsh decisions. I think this probably was an easier decision, being given the option to stand down.
They have gone. Like I said, they’ve left the building and our focus now is on the conference today.
Farage personally has 'serious questions to answer' over alleged Reform UK plot to evade electoral law, Ed Davey says
Ed Davey , the Lib Dem leader, says Nigel Farage was ultimately responsible for the apparent attempt to evade electoral law on donations exposed by the undercover investigation shown on Channel 4 News.
In a post on social media this morning, he says:
Clearly very serious questions for Farage to answer given his role in the meeting.
Davey was referring to the way Reform UK , in its first response to the undercover report last night, said it had “been the target of a hoax perpetuated by foreign-funded, climate change activists posing as would-be party donors”.
Labour asks Met police to launch criminal inquiry into Reform UK donations, as two party aides involved step down
Good morning. Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, is speaking on the main day of his party’s conference in Birmingham. It has been a bad summer for the party. After having a large lead over the other parties in opinion polls for over a year, the lead collapsed after Andy Burnham became PM, and now Reform UK and Labour are basically neck and neck. Farage has been embroiled in the scandal over his failure to declare a £5m donation. And last night, on the eve of Farage’s big speech, Channel 4 News broadcast the findings of a long, undercover investigation showing leading Reform UK figures apparently plotting to evade UK law on electoral donations.
Related: Reform officials ‘plotted to break law on foreign donations’ in undercover film
You can read the Channel 4 News write-up here . But to fully appreciate how strong the evidence against Reform UK is, it is best to watch the half-hour report in full.
Reform UK says the two senior Reform officials most implicated in the apparent plot to evade electoral law are stepping down pending an investigation. In a statement released about half an hour ago, a Reform UK spokesperson said:
Reform UK has launched an investigation following the broadcast of a Channel 4 News programme.
Both individuals involved have stepped down from their respective positions pending the outcome of the investigation.
The party believes it is important that the investigation is allowed to proceed independently and without prejudice. No further comment will be made while the investigation is ongoing.
This is a reference to James Orr, the party’s head of policy, and Dan Jukes, a senior aide to Farage.
The Labour party has written to the Metropolitan police calling for a criminal investigation. In her letter to Mark Rowley, the Met commissioner, Bridget Phillipson, the Labour party chair, says:
We … believe there is a proper basis for a police investigation into whether offences under PPERA [Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000] have been committed, including, but not necessarily limited to:
(a) offences under section 61(1) concerning evasion of restrictions on donations;
(b) any offence arising from knowingly providing false information to, or withholding material information from, the registered treasurer in circumstances falling within section 61(2);
(c) any offence arising from Reform UK’s acceptance or retention of impermissible donations, including the £32,500 of polling expenditure, if the evidential and reporting facts establish the necessary elements; and
(d) any related offence concerning the accuracy or completeness of statutory donation returns.
We understand that political finance matters also fall within the regulatory remit of the Electoral Commission. We are not suggesting that a police investigation should displace the commission’s role; rather, given the apparent possibility of criminal conduct, we believe the allegations should be brought formally to the attention of the police so that the appropriate authorities can determine the proper investigative route.
11.05am: The main day of Reform UK’s conference opens with tributes to Ann Widdecombe. After that the main speakers on the stage are chief whip Lee Anderson at 11.30am; Welsh leader Dan Thomas at 11.45am; home affairs spokesperson Zia Yusuf at noon; Jordon Bardella, president of the French National Rally party at 12.30pm: Matt Goodwin at 3pm; Sarah Pochin MP at 3.15pm; deputy leader Richard Tice at 3.30pm: and Nigel Farage at 3.50pm. There are also fringe meetings through the day.
1pm: Farage and Bardella hold a press conference.
Afternoon: Kemi Badenoch is on a visit in West Sussex.
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British ministers have hit back after the Argentinian president said “winds of change” favourable to his country’s claim to the Falklands were “blowing around the world”, Kiran Stacey reports.
This report is published with credit to theguardian.com. Full available text from the wire is above. Read on theguardian.com →
Source: theguardian.com · Andrew Sparrow. Published 4 Sept 2026, 09:26 am.
